The dangerous twins
by sevenofmine
Summary: An unknown man tells Monk that the six-fingered man did not kill Trudy on his own. Twins were hired to install the explosive device. Who are they? Is Monk their next target?  Contains spoilers from Mr. Monk and the End...and goes further than the end.
1. Finding the path that leads to the truth

Chapter 1

'I am sorry to have let you wait', the officer apologized. 'No matter', Mr. Monk answered and stood up. He has waited for over an hour in the police department of San José. He had time. Nathalie was in the city, doing shopping. He had all the time in the world. He walked along the corridor together with the officer whose name badge revealed that he was called Brown with last name. A very common name, Mr. Monk thought and followed him to his office.

'Take a seat', police Officer Brown said and sat down behind his office desk. 'So you are', he looked at his file opened on the untidy desk, 'Adrian Monk. You were husband to Trudy Monk, right?' Mr. Monk nodded. 'So, let's see', he talked more to himself than to Mr. Monk. 'She died ten years ago with a car bomb. Police still has no clue who the murderer is. You worked for police, right, Mr. Monk?' 'Yes. Now I still help them, as a detective.' 'I know. I heard from you. You solved over hundred cases, did you?' Mr. Monk nodded. 'So, as I take along, you have no clue why I summoned you here?' 'That is right. I think it is something about my wife?'

'You are right, Mr. Monk. The police of San José arrested a man yesterday who claimed to know the real murderer of Trudy Monk.' 'The true murderer of my wife is already dead. The only thing I don't know is, who hired him and why', Monk said surprised. 'I know that you were pretty sure that this six-fingered man planted the bomb in your wife's car. But this man told us, that he was in charge of witnessing if the murder was done. The six-fingered man had just been the look-out so that nobody could have witnessed the planting of the explosive device.' 'Do you want to tell me, that someone else built the bomb and placed it in my wife's car?', Monk asked.

'Yes', the officer said. 'Who?' 'That question we asked him, too. But he said he wanted to tell you personally. Do you want to talk to him? He's in our interrogation room.' 'Of course', Mr. Monk said and stood up. He followed officer Brown back through the corridor into another one until they finally stopped in front of a door where 'Interrogation #1' was written on. 'Go inside', officer Brown said. 'I will watch from outside.' He nodded to the door next to them. Monk nodded and entered.

Monk sat down on the right chair. On the left one an old man with about forty years, sat. He just looked at him. 'You are Adrian Monk?', he asked. Monk nodded and looked nervously around. He did not like that little room. 'You wanted to talk to me?', he asked the man. 'Yes.' 'What is your name?' 'That is not relevant. Police did not figure that out either. But I know something that could be valuable for you, Mr. Monk.' 'What do you want for telling me?', Monk asked not trusting the man on the opposite of the table. 'I just want to get out again.' 'I can't promise that.' 'I know. The police officer here did', he nodded to the mirror behind Monk. Monk turned his head around and back. 'Tell me.'

'I don't know who hired me. But I hired Warrick Tennyson and two other criminals to build an explosive device. I just had the contract to get your wife killed but I should hire someone. Warrick, your six-fingered man, didn't kill your wife. He was just the reassurance that the other two could install the bomb without disturbance. They succeeded. You think the killer of your wife is dead but they aren't. You have to find them and the one who hired me. They are the only other people alive who know the truth. Except for the whale.' That was clear to Monk. Dale the whale of course knew who had wanted Trudy's death. 'And you know the truth', Monk said calmly. 'But I won't be alive for a long time now. I will die. You know why? Because I will tell you. The twins will kill me.' 'The twins?', Mr. Monk asked. 'The twins were the ones I hired to kill your wife. I don't know why I did. Because at this time, they were six years old.' The man said nothing for a while. Monk stared at him in disbelief. 'You want to tell me, that two six-year-old have killed my wife?', he asked. The man nodded. 'They are cruel, violent, brutal, mean, evil and don't have borders. A week ago I met them again. They still exist and they still murder. They are good contract killers now.' 'By now they're sixteen', Monk reminded him. 'I know. And in the past ten years they had enough time to get even crueler and more violent. Take care of you, Mr. Monk. When you are close enough to solve that very first case of you, you will be their target.' 'They don't want to kill me now?' 'They only get the assignment to kill you when you try to solve the case. Then the killer of your wife wants to kill you, too. And the twins have no mercy. They are young, efficient, clean and have all the means you can think about and moles wherever you think. They will kill me, too.'

'Inside here they can't do anything to you', Monk replied calmly. 'What are their names?', he asked. 'It can't be so difficult to find two little boys who want me believe that they killed my wife.'

The man laughed. 'They are no boys. They are girls. Two girls more evil you can even think about', he said. Monk blinked. 'Their names?' 'Annika and Vanessa Palmer', the man said. Then his face got a neutral expression and his head hit the table. His body fell down to the floor. Officer Brown stormed in even before Monk could stand up. He felt the pulse and shook his head. 'No pulse', he said to Mr. Monk. Monk sighed. Those twins were good.


	2. New faces

Chapter 2

'Oh my god, Mr. Monk. When they could kill this mean like this, they don't even have to have a plan to kill you. They can just do it. How did they do it? That must have been a kind of invisible sword', Natalie said. She was nervous. She and Mr. Monk were sitting in Captain Stottlemeyer's office. Stottlemeyer came in, followed by Randy. He threw a file on his desk and sat down. Randy leaned against one of the cupboard.

'What?', Natalie asked. 'The man's name was Marc Collins. And you were right, Natalie. He _was_stabbed by an invisible sword. That was the code name of a failed operation three years ago. I did not find out who or what was the target those days but I know how Collins was murdered', Stottlemeyer said. 'How', Monk asked. 'About ten hours ago Collins got an injection that contained tiny nanocapsules filled with deadly cyanide. With terahertz radiation those shells got broken and released the cyanide. This led to death within a few minutes. In the interrogation room a tiny video camera was found. They saw the interview and at the right moment they killed Collins before he could tell you more.' 'Why did they let him tell Monk their names?', Nathalie asked while Monk was lost in thoughts again. 'Either they wanted to bring you on the right path or they started to release the cyanide too late', Randy said. 'Because we think that they don't make mistakes that early, we have to assume that they wanted us to know their names', Captain Stottlemeyer said. 'We don't have any files and couldn't find anything out about them', Randy added. 'We just have to wait and find out what they are going to do?', Stottlemeyer said.

There was a knock at the door. 'Come in', Stottlemeyer said. 'Here are the reports of this week', a girl went in and gave him a few documents. She turned around. 'Monk, Natalie, this is Valentina Riddle, she started here last week.' 'Hello', the girl said. Natalie and Monk greeted her. 'You are young, how old are you?', Monk asked. 'Just gotten nineteen', she said smilingly. 'Thank you for the files', Stottlemeyer said. 'I'm gonna do further researches concerning the twins', she said and left the office.

'She looks very young for nineteen', Natalie said. 'However, she graduated three years ago with only A on her school certificate. After formation she now started here. She is good.' Monk shortly thought about her. She was tall for a girl, pale skinned, had black hair and black eyes. She seemed to be the type of girl who was nice but also very ambitious. 'She has a British accent', Monk said. 'She went to school and graduated in Great Britain', Randy said.

It was late night. Natalie and Monk stepped out of the car. They had been both waken up by a phone call of Captain Stottlemeyer. They entered the house. It was not the best district of San Francisco. There were a lot of police officers, all of them looking tired. It was one o'clock in the morning. 'Great you came', Stottlemeyer said and led them to the living room of the house. 'Ah', Monk screamed as he saw the dead body. He held his arm in front of his eyes. The dead woman was naked and lied on the couch. Blood did not drown anymore. She was shot in the heart, the left part of her chest. 'Oh my god', Natalie said and got closer to have a better look. 'Mr. Monk, open your eyes. She is just dead', Natalie told Mr. Monk. 'And naked', Monk said. 'Hey get a plastic bag', Stottlemeyer told a police officer. He put an untransparent bag over the human body. 'You can have a look, now', he said and turned to Monk who already inspected the room with his typical Monk gestures. 'She was killed after…after', his word lost. 'After sex?', Randy helped out. 'Yes', Monk said and with his forcipes he took a latex cloth and held it up. 'What's this?', he asked and put it into the evidence plastic bag Valentina held up for him. 'A dental dam', she said. 'There may be DNA of the murderer on it', she said neutrally. 'A what?', Monk asked. Randy helped out: 'Lesbians use it for safer sex.' Stottlemeyer looked at him, puzzled. 'I paid attention to biology classes in school', Randy said and occupied with other evidences. 'So why should our murderer leave us DNA?', Stottlemeyer asked. 'At least we now know that she is female', Natalie said.

It was nine o'clock, exactly one day later. Stottlemeyer still worked as did most of the police officers. There was much to do and Monk and Natalie just waited in Stottlemeyer's office. Randy had written down everything they knew about the twins. It was not much.

Captain Stottlemeyer came in. 'We got a help call by a citizen. She screamed that someone tried to murder her.' They hurried out of the office.

When they arrived nobody was there anymore. They entered the house and directly in the kitchen they found the body. A young woman, like the one yesterday, too. Monk looked out of the window, he had seen something in the corner of his eye. 'There', he said and pointed to a shadow on the rooftop opposite to the house they were in. Stottlemeyer had a quick look, then hurried out toward the street. He ran around the other house and the shadow jumped down from the roof, six meters and did not even seem to have a scratch afterwards.

'Stay there', Stottlemeyer screamed and pointed his gun toward the person. The person did not move. Captain Stottlemeyer came closer. He recognized a girl. He estimated her to be young, around eighteen years old, maximum. She held a gun in her hand. 'Put the gun down', he said. She did as she was told. 'Good, put your hands behind your head.' She did so.

They were back at SFPD building. Stottlemeyer watched the young girl who was sitting in the interrogation room. Randy, Valentina, Natalie, Monk and the Captain stood in the room that was separated by a mirror, they could see the girl, and she could not see them. 'Do we know anything?', Stottlemeyer asked. 'Nothing', Valentina said. She looked down at the girl. Mr. Monk looked at the girl. Something was strange. He looked to Valentina. When he compared them, they had about the same height and the same figure. Well, they are both young girls, he said.

'I'm going in', Stottlemeyer said and headed to the door, without his usual file. They did not know anything about her. He wanted to change that.

The girl was tall, had blonde, long hair tied together in a pigtail. She was very thin, too thin and wore a black Jeans, black leather jacket and a black pullover. When they had searched her, they had found a knife and a gun. The knife matched to the murder yesterday and the gun to the murder today. That was too easy, Captain Stottlemeyer thought when he opened the door and entered interrogation room. He sat down to the chair opposite to the girl. He had no file to open.

'What is your name', he asked directly. Perhaps it worked. 'I see no reason to tell you', she girl answered. Her voice was not evil, not definitive, not controlling but neutral. 'Did you kill those two girls? Sara Doyle and Kelly Twain?' 'Didn't you find any DNA you can match now?' Captain Stottlemeyer pulled out a plastic bag. She took a hair from her head and gave it to him. He put it in the plastic bag he put on the table aside. 'Yes, I killed them both.' 'Why?' 'It was my contract.' 'You're not a contract killer', Stottlemeyer said. She was too young for that. Her face did not show any emotions by now. 'Why not?', she asked. 'How old are you?'

'Nineteen.' 'You look younger.' 'Maybe because I lied.' 'Why did you?' 'My fake identity card tells so', she said, not showing any emotion in her face. She did not seem to be cynical or disinterested either. 'So you are younger than nineteen?', he asked. 'I am not nineteen', she said. Interiorly, Stottlemeyer swore. She could still be older than nineteen, just looking very young. 'So you wanna tell me that you are a nineteen, I just take you along as nineteen now, year old girl who works as a contract killer?', he asked, not showing his disbelief. She said nothing. Somehow her black eyes scared him a bit. 'Who hired you?' 'I don't know. I get my targets from Rend. You know him.' That was rather a determination than a question. Of course, Stottlemeyer knew Rend Burnie, a criminal who lived in San Francisco. He also occupied a lot of criminals, drug or weapon dealers, small criminals and contract killers. Unfortunately, SFPD was not able to track him down by now. 'Yes', he said in a low voice. 'When did you move to San Francisco?', he asked. 'Why do you think I didn't grow here up?', she asked. 'Am I right?' 'Of course.' 'Tell me. Where were you born? Where did you move? What is about your childhood?' 'I never had a childhood', she said and remained silent for a while. 'Are you British?', the Captain asked. Her British accent was easy to notice. 'No, I am German and I was also born in Germany', she said. She was constantly looking at him, kept eye contact. It was no staring, he felt that she was kind of nice. 'I moved to America with two years, my parents raised me bilingual and set my sister and me out on the street when I was three', she said sighing. That was more information than he expected to get. 'What then?', he asked. The whole talk was recorded. He already knew that he was going to listen to it again and again in the next time.

'From an orphanage I moved to a certain school in Great Britain, more or less a boarding school for children without parents. When I turned fifteen I left and went to America. No, not since that time I worked as a killer', she said. Stottlemeyer looked puzzled. She was very open. That made it easier to find out who she was. 'Why did you leave school so early?', he asked. 'I graduated', she said. The captain was surprised. She seemed to be very brilliant. There was no doubt he had to be careful. 'Why didn't you study afterward?', he asked. She did not answer at once. 'Why should I?', she said. 'You evade my question.' 'I know.'

'What is your name', he asked again. She kept silence. She looked aside then back to him. 'Theresa', she said. 'That was easy', he said. She smiled. He knew she wanted to tell him her name. She was someone who could not be persuaded to tell something she did not want to.

'What school did you go to in Britain', he asked. 'Ask your probie', Theresa said suddenly. 'We went to the same school', she still smiled. Nicely. Stottlemeyer looked even more startled now.

Valentina looked at Theresa. Of course she knew her. Randy, Monk and Natalie were all staring to her. Valentina sighed and five minutes later they were all five in Stottlemeyer's office: Monk, Randy, Natalie, her and Leland himself. 'You know her?', Captain Stottlemeyer asked. 'Yes, we went together to school, as she just told you.' 'What is her full name?' 'She could have altered it by yet.' 'Good point. But with a last name I could easier find her.' 'Theresa Riddle.' After a second she added: 'It's a coincidence. We are no relatives. I'm pretty sure.' 'Okay, what can you tell us about her?', Randy asked. 'Not much. She told me the same about her past.' 'You went to school together for a lot of years. Tell us', Captain Stottlemeyer said. 'She is officially nineteen, her official name is Theresa Riddle, we were friends and she kills people.' 'When did you lose contact?', Monk asked. 'Never', Valentina said. 'I did not know that she was in San Francisco now and that she killed those two people before she told us.'

'What can you tell us about her killing style?', the Captain asked. 'I don't know a lot about what she does or who she works for. We were just friends back in school because we were the two youngest of our grade. I know as much as you do. And I have the bad concern that everything she has told me the past few years was a lie anyway. I'm sorry', she said. 'It's alright. Let's find out more.' They headed back to interrogation room.

Theresa just waited in the interrogation room. The door went open and Stottlemeyer and Valentina went in. Valentina closed the door behind her. She leaned against the wall while Captain Stottlemeyer sat down. 'Valentina, nice to see you again', Theresa said. She did not smile. Valentina did not reply. Theresa turned back to the Captain. 'In the room of your first to us known murder we matched the DNA of the Latex thing to your DNA.' 'It's called a Dental Dam', Theresa said calmly. 'We didn't match your DNA to any other file.' 'You won't. There is no file about me.' 'Did you have sex with Sara Doyle', he asked unbelieving. 'She was lesbian and drunk. I just needed the right moment to shoot her.' 'You first slept with her and then killed her?', he asked, still in disbelieve. 'Yes.'

'Are you lesbian, too?', he asked. 'No. I'm bisexual', she said openly. 'That's the nearly the same.' 'It is not', she answered, sharply but still calm. 'So I've got a confession and you'll get into prison for a very long time. Case solved.' He stood up. Theresa smiled and still looked at the point where he had sat. He walked out and Randy came in. He and Valentina brought Theresa to the 24-hours cell in SFPD where she had to wait at least until tomorrow.

'Good night', Stottlemeyer said and they all went home.

The next day, Captain Stottlemeyer was early. He went to the little cell corridor to look after Theresa. She was not there anymore and the lock was broken. He cursed.


	3. Asking does not kill by now

Chapter 3

'Nothing', Randy said. He had a file in his hand which included a single paper. This single paper included the information that Annika and Vanessa Palmer were twins, most likely identical twins, that they were both sixteen years old and were somehow involved into Trudy Monk's murder. 'Neither FBI nor any other police department has ever heard of them.' 'But we know that they exist. They already killed Collins without leaving any trace', Valentina said. She sat on the couch in Stottlemeyer's office and worked on a report on her laptop. 'And that was it', Stottlemeyer said. 'How can we allure them to get visible?', he asked. Randy and Valentina both slowly shook their heads.

Three days later, Theresa Riddle sat again in interrogation room. She looked calm and very self-disciplined as last time. Stottlemeyer sat on the chair opposite of her. The file about her included one paper. 'Where did you learn to kill?', he asked. 'England', she replied. 'Not in school?', he asked, more determined. Theresa slightly laughed. 'So you sleep with both boys and girls?', he asked. 'That is the definition of being bisexual', she said. 'You slept with her and then killed her?' 'That question you asked before. Yes.' 'Do you regret when you kill?' 'Not when it's justified.' 'Was this murder justified?' 'No.' 'Is any murder justified.' 'Self-defense.' She was hard to break. He sighed. 'How many people did you already kill?' 'A lot.' After a while she added: 'I lost count.'

He looked at her. 'Okay', he said and took an exercise book from under the file. 'This is an IQ test. I want you to do it.' That sounded ridiculous. She raised an eyebrow. He just gave it to her and handed her a biro. He left the room and locked the door behind him. He joined Randy and Valentina in the watching room. They watched Theresa doing the test. 'Why do you let her doing this?', Randy asked. 'I just want to know how to think about her.' 'You should not underestimate her', Valentina advised. 'I know. I won't.' Valentina smiled. 'What?' 'You don't know her.' 'You do?' 'No.' 'You were friends.' 'I think that everything she had told me the past ten years was a lie', she said with a serious face. 'Ten years?', Stottlemeyer asked. Valentina nodded. She sighed. It must be hard for her, to see an old friend being a betrayer and a murderer, he thought.

Two hours later, Captain Stottlemeyer sat back in his office, alone. The IQ test results lay in front of him. They were unbelievable. Either she had done this test before or she simply was a genius. The average of IQ was hundred, Theresa seemed to have an IQ from about one hundred and thirty-four.

He went back to Theresa's cell. She was still there, lying on the left bed and staring at the ceiling. She was still awake. No other police men were in the building. Since the divorce of his wife Stottlemeyer often kept on working until late in the evening although his new wife waited at home. It was his habit. He placed himself in front of the bars. Theresa looked at him and sat up. 'After the test results you have an IQ of 134', he said. She did not react. 'You knew that.' She did not do anything. Stottlemeyer laughed. 'Is this true or did you fake it somehow?' 'I didn't cheat', she simply said. 'Then what is such a brilliant young girl like you doing in arrest of SF police department?', he asked her. 'Why are you doing what you do?', he asked. 'It is not my fault', she said after thinking twice.

'Bad surrounding?', Stottlemeyer asked. Perhaps she had grown up in one of the poorest districts of Britain. Perhaps she did not have any chance to get out of the chain. But on the other hand she had been to the same school as Valentina and graduated obviously with a good mark average. 'Bad luck', she said. 'Not everything has to do with bad luck', Stottlemeyer said. He wanted to get out more about her. 'Let me say it so. If I hadn't had so much bad luck in my past, I would not be here, I would not fight for survival in the world and I would not be a hatchet girl', she said sharply, looking with her deep black eyes into his. Somehow she scared him. 'How did you get out last time?', he changed the subject. 'The lock was easy to break.' 'You have experience in it?', he asked.

She nodded but he saw a kind of reaction in her eyes. A slight movement, perhaps something she just remembered. Perhaps the first emotion he saw in her. 'You obviously can handle a gun and a knife', he added. 'Was trained in both', she said shortly. 'Do you have emotions?', he asked. 'When you kill or do you love someone. Do you have a boyfriend?' She laughed slightly. She was far too pretty to be an assassin, he thought. 'Yes, I have emotions. Yes, also when I kill people I still feel. Yes, I do love somebody, yes, I do have a boyfriend. Satisfied?', she replied. She smiled at him. 'Yes, I now know a lot about you.' 'Not about who I am.'

He kept silence for a while. 'Do you know a lot people of the underworld?', he suddenly asked. 'Maybe', she said. 'Have you ever heard of Vanessa and Annika Palmer?', he asked. He did not know how she would reacted but he just had to ask. 'The twins?', she directly said. 'Yes', Captain Stottlemeyer got excited. Perhaps she knew more. But why should she tell him?

'What do you know about them?', he asked. 'Give me a reason to tell you.' 'I'll let you unofficially out of the cell tonight', he said. She smiled and said: 'If I wanted out, I could do that within a minute.' She thought for a second, where to begin. 'What do you know about the twins?' 'Not much. Sixteen year old girls. I heard they would be involved in the murder of Trudy Monk.' He expected her to ask more about Monk and the death of his wife. 'I know about her. Read the file. Poor Mr. Monk', she said. Her voice did not show any pity but however, it was soft. 'Where did you get the police report?', he asked surprised. 'FBI website. They should really recheck their protection, it is so easy to hack in', she said. 'What do you know about Vanessa and Annika?', Captain Stottlemeyer repeated. Theresa stood up and walked toward where he was standing. She stopped one meter away from him.

'Vanessa and Annika Palmer are sixteen year old identical twins. Their first murder they committed in the age of six, ten years ago. Not the murder of Trudy. That was their first contract killing. Don't ask me who hired them. After that they vanished. Trained and with new strength they are back now. They now are in contact with the man who hired them to kill Monk's wife again. They killed Collins who tried to help Monk. You shall be warned. Don't underestimate them.' 'Do you know them?' 'I had the pleasure to meet them. I worked with them shortly and know them far better than you wish to. They are evil, mean, vicious and don't regret anything. I don't know if they have emotions or consciousness.' 'How do they look like? What are they able to do?' 'Able to do? Everything as you saw in the example of Collins. They can kill without leaving traces. Both are trained with gun and knife. Perfectly fit, physically and psychologically. Perfect computer skills. Already ten years ago they were able to successfully plant a self-made bomb in a car and killed detective Monk's wife. What do you think about they are able to do ten years later?' She breathed. 'They are tall, fair skinned. They have dark eyes, I can't tell you what color exactly. They have dark red hair with black strands of hair. Obviously colored hair. They are thin and most time appear in black leather clothes.' 'They are too young to have a driver license for motorcycles', Captain Stottlemeyer asked. 'Fake identity, fake licenses', she said. 'What do they plan now?' 'I don't know. As long is their boss doesn't tell so, they won't kill Monk. Perhaps harm him somehow. By the way, they are skilled in torturing. Don't ask me how I know.' He looked at her. 'There was this man we all wanted information from', she shrugged. 'Are you?', he asked. 'Skilled in torturing, I mean?' 'You wanted to leave me out or I can surely demonstrate', she said.

He took out a key and opened the door. She went by, turned around: 'Just to mention, my hair is colored, too. Find out my true hair color and you find out a lot about me.' She turned around and walked out of the corridor outside to freedom. Her sister already waited for her in the car. Theresa stepped in and fastened the seat belt. 'What took you so long?', her sister asked. She started driving. 'He asked me about Vanessa and Annika Palmer', Theresa said. Her sister smiled. 'What else did you tell him?', she asked. 'Not too much. I'll leave them time to figure everything out. I hope Monk will get it fast.' 'I hope so, too', her sister said.


	4. Natalie's dinner

Chapter 4

The days went on and Christmas came and went by. Randy celebrated Christmas with his mum, Stottlemeyer with her new wife, Natalie with her daughter Julie and her new boyfriend and Valentina with her boyfriend Dean, her sister and the boyfriend of her sister. Mr. Monk stayed at home. It was Christmas Eve and it rained outside. There was no snow because it was still plus two degrees centigrade. He had told Natalie that he would spend Christmas Eve with the Captain and the Captain he had told that he would spend Christmas Eve with Natalie. Monk stood alone in his kitchen and looked outside. The rain fell against the window and made the view blurry. Everywhere you looked you could see Christmas decoration, happy lights, in golden, red and white. Nobody missed the snow because they had people. Monk went back to the living room. He sat down at the sofa and looked at the little green present standing on his table. He never wanted to open it. He took it and placed it back in the cupboard. He went back to the kitchen to prepare meal while singing 'Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer'. Trudy had loved this song. He went to the draw to get out a fork and a knife. He opened the draw and froze. There was a piece of paper inside. He took it and read: 'We do exist.' Confused he looked around, turned the piece of paper in his hand and headed back to the table. At Christmas Eve he did not want to call Stottlemeyer or Natalie. He wanted to be alone, tonight. To think about the last ten years. It has been ten years. He could not believe it. He wanted to see her, to feel her again…

Time passed by and it got warmer again. Not warm, but warmer. Snow vanished from the streets and it got February. They did not hear anything about the twins. They arrested Theresa regularly, each time they got out more about her. She could escape all the time, once even from FBI who wanted to interrogate them at FBI headquarters. They did not know how she did it.

'What happened?', Monk asked when he stepped into Natalie's car. 'I don't know. The captain just called me and told me about a murder. He named me the address.' They drove along. It was March, still cold outside. They got out of the car and headed to the Palgrove Birthing center. 'I know that building', Mr. Monk said and walked toward it. 'Who?', he asked when he entered. 'The doctor', Stottlemeyer said and showed him the body. 'The same doctor you were talking to', he added. He did not finish the sentence. In exactly this room Monk had received the call about his wife's death ten years ago. 'We already know what happened', Stottlemeyer said. Monk looked puzzled. 'Video cameras', Stottlemeyer said and pointed to one in the corner. 'We got everything. The doc has been scanning some documents, working late night. Two girls came in, one shot her directly into his chest. They walked toward the computer. One girl put the body on the ground while the other did something on the computer. We don't know what.' 'You got their faces?' 'They smiled into the cameras. We are already running face recognition but no match yet. They were young, identical twins. Although the surveillance cameras are black and white I think they were red haired. Darker strands of hair. Both curly-haired, very tall. Both in leather outfit. They seemed to come with their motorcycles.' 'Although they can't have a driver's license for this', Randy added. It was clear before.

After a visit at Judge Ethan Rickover's house concerning this murder they arrived back in the Police department.

It was twelve o'clock. He was alone in house, still reading, had a glass of red wine next to him. He was the murder of Mr. Monk's wife. He heard a noise. He moved his feet back from the table to the ground. Two figures appeared in the door frame. The man smiled. 'A call would have done it', he said. 'Phones are unsafe', Vanessa said. 'Monk is close to solving this case', the man said relaxed. 'How far do you allow us to go?', Annika asked. The twins were very calm. 'Kill him. I will transfer you the money.' He blinked. 'You should be aware that hiring a killer to kill killers is advisable', Annika said. 'You can be sure that if I wanted to kill you I would pay highest attention', he smiled and took his glass. 'And you can be sure that this glass does not only contain wine', Vanessa said, without a smile. He looked into the glass. 'Don't worry. You will wake up in two hours. It should just help you to remember not to mess around with us', Vanessa said. He did not feel well. He put down the glass and looked at the girls. 'We will occupy with Monk', Annika assured him. 'Good night', Vanessa said and they both went out through the back door and heard the man's body falling to the ground. He woke up two hours later with a headache worse than at the morning after drinking twenty-five Red Bulls.

Julie, Natalie, her boyfriend and Monk sat down at the table. Mr. Monk did not understand why he had to get to know Natalie's new boyfriend at the dinner. He did not think that they would live together forever. Nothing was forever, just the pain. They talked about romance, about Julie's plans for studying at university of California at Berkeley. Monk told Natalie's boyfriend about the homicide three days ago. 'It is not solved yet although we clearly knew who did it', he says. He took out a cleaning cloth he always had with him and started cleaning the spoon. 'Mr. Monk, stop it. Please', Natalie said, smiling at her boyfriend. 'There's a spot', Monk said. He looked at the table. 'Another spot', he said trying to clean this as well. 'I'm seeing spots all over', he said covering his eyes with his hands. Natalie stood up and went to him. 'Look at me', she said. Monk did so. 'Spots everywhere', he said.

Only half an hour later they all sit on really uncomfortable chairs in hospital. Monk gave them blood. It took forty-five minutes. They still waited in the medical room. A doctor came in. he introduced himself. He was a toxicologist. 'How do you react on bad news?', he asked. 'Very bad', Natalie, Monk and Natalie's boyfriend repeated several times murmuring. 'Have you eaten anything unusual last time?', the doctor continued questioning. 'Why do you ask?', Natalie said. She had cooked dinner today. 'Well, it looks like Adrian has been poisoned.' 'Was my food poisoned?', Natalie asked worrying. 'No, we're not talking about food poisoning', the doctor said. 'We talking about something very more serious. We are talking about some kind of toxin. We don't know how it was introduced but we do know that the dosage was…very high.' 'I don't understand', Monk said. The doctor got clearer: 'you have been poisoned, Adrian. Someone wanted to kill you. They may have succeeded.'

The next day Monk returned to hospital to get a clearer report. The last night specialists have searched his apartment. Monk walked around in the corridor. Natalie said on the chair, next to Captain Stottlemeyer who could not read his newspaper, Randy, who stood up, too and Valentina who tried to read in the Captain's newspaper as well, but did not seem to be able to concentrate. The doctor from yesterday came walking down the corridor. 'God, this is the longest hallway in the world', Monk muttered. Natalie looked deeply concerned. The doctor arrived. 'It was not the food from dinner, or somebody else would have gotten sick as well. I let your house been searched and we did not find there anything either. But we still don't know how you were introduced this toxin. Unfortunately we don't know anything about it. It can be one of four thousands components. We need to identify this specific kind of toxin.' Monk sighed. 'Of course we try to manage your pain as best we can.' 'How long…?', Mr. Monk asked. He looked worried as well. It was kind of painful. The doctor hesitated shortly, then answered: 'Two, maybe three days.'


	5. Trudy

Chapter 5

'We have to find the twins. We find him. Half of you are going to help finding the twins and the other half occupies with the other murder. But most important for the twins: No guns! We need them alive so they tell us how they poisoned Monk. How we get the information out of them when we have them here, is a problem I will occupy later with. If they die, Mr. Monk dies. Understood?'

An hour later they figured out the man who sold deadly toxin to a man who he saw later selling the poison to a little girl he had estimated to be about eighteen. They arrested him. After gotten his computer broken, Stottlemeyer, Randy, Valentina and a lot of police officers stood at the train station waiting for that man. He knew the toxin.

'He's not gonna show', Stottlemeyer said. He, Randy and Valentina stood there with luggage and waited. Not for the train, but for the man. They knew what he looked like. That made it easy. Not that anything would be easy right now.

'Over there', Valentina murmured. She nodded to a man with dark blonde hair and big sunglasses. He was kind of strange. 'Acknowledged', Stottlemeyer said and the three walked toward him, very slowly. He looked over and his and Stottlemeyer's eyes met. The man looked around and saw too many people with ear devices. He pulled out a smoke-bomb and threw it. There was smoke everywhere and people ran away. The man pulled his gun and fired five times blindly before he decided to run for it. Stottlemeyer and Randy went after him, as did Valentina who coughed more serious than the two men because of the smoke. She had asthma.

Stottlemeyer ran for it, against the people who ran toward the next exit, in panic. He saw the man who ran out to the rail tracks. He looked behind him and saw that the Captain and Randy were to slow. He laughed. He did not hear their screams. He did not hear the train when it hit him. He heard silence. Deadly silence. He looked at this police officer in one moment and a second later he saw dark grey over him. He was under a train. He did not realize. Then it went black. He realized he was dead. It was funny. He knew he was dead but still could think. He wanted to look around but could not move. He just saw black. Then some read appeared. A red circle growing in front of him. This red circle transformed into devils, little dancing devils, smiling at him and screaming. He wanted to scream to but he could not say anything. He looked at the dancing devils in front of and around him and they laughed. Then one devil left the circle and stepped forwards to him. He pointed the trident he carried toward him. He pointed it at his eye and stabbed forward. His vision got blurry; he did not see the shapes of the devils any more. The man just saw a red circle vanishing. Then it was black again. Then he lost consciousness. He was dead.

'Now we've got a problem', Randy said as they were kneeing over the dead body. Stottlemeyer sat down on the ground. He was short of breath because of the hunt. They both had not been fast enough. Valentina stood behind them. 'Where have you been? I thought you'd be faster?', Stottlemeyer said, still breathing hard. He saw the inhalator in her hand. 'Asthma?', he asked. She nodded and stared at the body. 'When you're doing sports?', Randy asked. 'No', she looked at him. 'The smoke-bomb took me off. I can't breathe when there's not enough air. I'm sorry.' 'It's okay', Stottlemeyer said. 'You can't do anything against it.' He looked back to the body. 'We've got a real problem.'

Randy came into Stottlemeyer's office. He sat at the desk, Valentina at the couch writing a report in her laptop. 'You called?', Stottlemeyer asked. Randy nodded. 'Just called hospital. They have no clue what the toxin was. Obviously the man did not have a lot of influence, too. The twins are good.' 'What about Monk?' 'He's not gonna make it', Randy said. His voice was sad, he sat down next to Valentina who put the laptop closed on the table. She sighed slightly. Stottlemeyer stood up, took three glasses and a whiskey from his draw. He put it on the table in front of Valentina and Randy and poured some whiskey in the glasses. 'I don't care if you aren't twenty-one now', he said and gave Valentina a glass. 'I don't think you never drank anything anyway', he said while he gave Randy his glass, took one for himself and sat down in the middle of the two. All three of them drank. 'Aren't they going to fire us?', Randy asked and looked around. 'Then they fire us', the Captain said and drank again. 'New for you, this stuff?', he asked Valentina. 'You have no idea', she said and finished off her glass. Stottlemeyer smiled and did so, too.

'Mr. Monk', Natalie said and gave him the present. He sat in his armchair and coughed. He did not sound very well. He took the green little present that Trudy wanted to give him for Christmas, ten years ago. 'I can't', he said. 'You have to', Natalie said as the door bell rang. 'That must be Valentina', she said. 'Valentina?', he asked. 'I asked her to go shopping. I could not leave you alone', she explained and opened the door to let her in. They went into the kitchen. 'How is he?', Valentina said as she put the brown paper bags from the shopping on the table. A lot of new cleaning stuff was in there. 'Not well', Natalie answered with a concerned glance. 'I can hear you', Monk said loudly. 'We know', Natalie replied loudly. Valentina slightly smiled. Monk came over to the kitchen and held a video tape in his hands. 'That was in there?', Natalie asked. He nodded. 'What was in where?', Valentina asked. Natalie looked at Mr. Monk for a reassurance if she should tell her. 'A video tape Trudy had packed into a present for Christmas. I have been storing it for ten years without opening it. Let us see it', Monk said and walked into the living room to put the tape into the video recorder. Valentina and Natalie exchanged looks and followed him. The two girls sat down next to Mr. Monk on the sofa. He started the tape. It showed Trudy, looking at them. Monk was shocked, as was Natalie, as was Valentina. They did not know she had recorded something before her death. Did she know anything? That she was going to be murdered? Did she know her killer? Natalie was concerned. Would Mr. Monk bear that message well, whatever it was? Valentina looked concerned, too.

'Hello Adrian. When you are watching this, it means that you are dead. I know we said we never had any secrets, but there is something I never told you', the tape began and showed the face of Trudy. She looked into the camera and spoke to her husband. Monk cried. He just couldn't stop the film. He had to see this. He watched at the TV. Tears glided down his cheeks. Natalie took his hand to calm him down. He did not want to clean his hands. Valentina caressed softly his arm. He did not push the girls away. They cared for him. He needed them.

'Something happened. Something terrible, years ago, before we met', she continued. 'I know you've always idealized me. But sweetheart, I am not perfect. I made a mistake.' Mr. Monk got quiet and leaned forward. 'It was fifteen years ago.' 'Twenty-five', Mr. Monk murmured. This video was taken ten years ago. 'Before me met, I had an affair. With my law professor…He was married at the time and I swear, I didn't know that.' Monk could not think. It was indescribable. 'Anyway…I was…pregnant', Trudy said out of the plasma screen. Monk stopped the film and cried, buried his face behind his hands and deeply sighed, several times. Natalie just sat next to him, looked at him. Valentina stared at the TV. She was already lost in thoughts. Natalie did not know what she thought about. 'I know you're disappointed', Trudy carried on. 'I didn't love him. I didn't really know him. But I loved being pregnant. It was a girl.' Natalie looked over to Valentina. She blinked and sighed silently. That was strange. She is just nineteen, Natalie thought. Natalie had a child, Julie and loved her over all. Did Valentina have such a secret, too? No, that was irrational. Impossible. She is just touched because of Trudy's emotional video, Natalie thought. 'She died the same day she was born', Trudy said nearly crying. 'She lived for nine minutes. I never saw her. Anyway, the father, the professor…his name is Ethan Rickover.' Monk stopped the film. 'Rickover', he muttered, then he said it more loudly again. He knew him. They knew him. Trudy carried on explaining and Mr. Monk stood up. It was all clear now. The missing nurse ten years ago, the murder in the Birthing center a few days ago. They started to digitalize the birthing and that would have laid open the truth. The missing nurse was killed by Rickover. He killed Trudy so that she could not tell anybody about the child because he wanted to get a promoting. Trudy could have prevented this so he got her killed. 'There was just something in his voice', Trudy said carrying on telling the truth. 'It scared me, you know. He has a dark side, I know it, and I saw it…that's why I'm making this tape.' Mr. Monk was kneeing now in front of the TV. Valentina looked worried at him and at the TV-Trudy. Natalie still listened to the words of Trudy because she could not combine two and two so fast as Mr. Monk. But she slowly began to understand. Understand more than they ever thought about to figure out.

Trudy said she hoped she was wrong. 'But if I'm right and something happens to me, I wanted you to know everything. Because you deserved to know everything. Adrian, you are more than the love of my life', Mr. Monk touched the plasma screen. He looked at Trudy, crying and smiling at her. He did not know that his living room was bugged. That everything that happened in there appeared as a video with sound on another screen. At exactly this moment both twins, Vanessa and Annika, knew what happened in this room. Annika smiled looking at the computer screen. She saw Mr. Monk suffering. She knew he was about to die and she knew he was about to solve the case. What was going to happen first?


	6. Getting worse and getting foes

Chapter 6

They had been at court today. Monk had known that it was Rickover. He confronted him. Nathalie had pulled him back from hurting him. They knew it was him. They had evidences. Although all birth documents were gone and never digitalized. The twins have taken care of it. They all sat in Stottlemeyer's office. They said nothing. They kept silence.

A police officer came in. 'Ah, Captain, there's a new murder. A woman, we don't know who yet. We got an anonymous call that there would be a dead woman in Manhattan Street.' Stottlemeyer, Randy, Monk, Natalie and Valentina stood up. Monk's health was getting worse.

They arrived at the crime scene. There were a lot of police officers at the house. Stottlemeyer ran toward them. 'What happened?', he screamed. 'That's the house of my ex-wife.' He ran into the house and saw his red-headed ex-wife lying of the floor. She just had trousers and a bra on. On her belly a smiley was scratched in with a knife. The blood wasn't pouring down anymore. There was a hole in her head. The bullet had hit her just between the eyes. Stottlemeyer kneed down. Captain Stottlemeyer? We also found this', an officer gave him a plastic bag. Stottlemeyer looked at it. There was a piece of paper in. The text was written with a computer: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.'

'The twins', he muttered and looked up. Another red-headed girl just ran into the house. The police officers tried to push the screaming woman back. 'Stop', Stottlemeyer stood up and walked to them. 'She's a friend', he said and let Sharona and her son come in. She ran to Mr. Monk. 'Is everything alright, Adrian? I heard you're gonna die!' 'Where did you hear this from?', he asked puzzled. 'I got this letter from Natalie', she pulled out her letter. 'Hello, Mr. Monk', Benji said. 'I never sent you a letter', Natalie said shaking her head. 'Let me have a look', Stottlemeyer said and took the paper. At the bottom of the paper there was a little smiley. 'Oh my god, is that your wife?', Sharona suddenly screamed. 'I just saw police out of the house and thought you all might be here.' 'Ex-wife', Stottlemeyer said putting the letter into the plastic bag Valentina gave him. 'Sharona, you might not know our latest member of the team', Stottlemeyer said and pointed to Valentina. 'Valentina Riddle', she introduced herself. 'Sharona Fleming', Sharona said. 'You look young for a police officer. How old are you?' 'Nineteen', Valentina smiled. She knew that it was hard to believe. She did not look older than eighteen, at most.

The following day, Mr. Monk was already in hospital. Natalie was visiting him. Randy was at home, making love to his new girlfriend. Stottlemeyer was at home, crying over her ex-wife. Valentina was at her boyfriend's house. The night got deeper. Valentina's boyfriend had to go to a shortly planned FBI operation, he worked for FBI and Valentina did not stay at home that night either. Randy fell asleep while his girlfriend gave him head. Stottlemeyer went to bed without sleeping with his new wife who was also called Trudy. Theresa was not home for nearly the whole night. She was just preparing a killing again. She observed the house. It was just another killing. She sat in her car and watched the man who was alone at home. He watched TV. Theresa did not need her binoculars to watch. She was bored. She read a book. She waited until the man went into bed. She got out of the car. She walked toward the house. She opened the front door easily although it was locked. She walked up to the bedroom. She took out her gun. She opened the door and turned on the light. The man sat upright in bed and looked at her. She had a gun in her hand. He looked scared. She pointed her gun at him and pulled the trigger. Just another man she saw dying. Just another man she killed. Somehow it did not affect her so much. With the time, you got tougher. She looked at the body falling down. Of course, she felt something, she was no psychopath. She had a bit of pity with the man and with his family. His family was going to die, too. Theresa sighed. She knew that Sharona and Benji were next on the list. Vanessa walked past her. Theresa did not hear her coming in. Vanessa took out her knife and scratched a smiley into the dead man's belly. She cleaned her knife at the bedclothes and put it back into her jacket. She smiled at Theresa. Theresa smiled back and together they went out of the house.

At half past three in the morning, when Valentina and Dean were back in bed and making love again, this time from behind, Stottlemeyer called her. 'Don't answer that one', his boyfriend murmured and kissed her neck. 'I have to', she said and pushed him softly away to reach her cell phone. He was British, too. 'Who?', he asked. 'Stottlemeyer', she said looking at the phone's display. 'He's got nerves to call you at that time of the day', he said. 'Yes?', she answered the call and signaled her boyfriend to be quiet. 'Understood', she said after a while and put the cell phone back. 'And?', he asked smiling. 'They found Sharona's husband dead in their house. It was the twins again, he supposes. He wants to bring Sharona and her son to a safe place and he already spoke to FBI. They will be brought to the FBI shed. You know, the one where Mr. Monk has been over seven years ago.' 'I read the file as you did', Dean smiled. Of course they both had had a look at the FBI file about Monk before Valentina started working for SFPD. 'They need someone to watch over the two', she explained. 'He wants me to pack my things and go there with them. It will take one, two days at most while they still try to figure out with what Monk was poisoned, he explained me.' 'What about a quickie before you go?', he asked smilingly. 'I have to drive home and get my things. That will also take it's time. Stottlemeyer is going to ask anyway why it took so long.' 'Do you want me to go into any strip-club tonight?', Dean asked. Valentina kissed him on his mouth. He pushed her gently back to the bed while playing with her nipples. 'I think I would have ten minutes', she said while he started kissing her breasts.

It was eight o'clock pm. It was before Sharona's husband was killed and before Valentina and Dean made love again. Natalie has gone home and Mr. Monk lay in bed in hospital. He looked very bad, very pale and very sick. He did not feel well. He perhaps had about a few hours left. It was dark outside and it rained. It did more than raining, it was pouring outside. He tried to sleep but could not. He heard the door going open. He looked aside. He saw two persons going in and closing the door behind them. The two girls came closer and walked beside the bed of Mr. Monk. They stared down to him and he looked at them. 'Either you are the devils to get me or you are Vanessa and Annika Palmer to get me to hell, too', he said and coughed again. The two girls stood looking down at him, with black eyes without any emotion. It scared Monk a bit. They did not have their motorcycle clothes on, this time, but black sports shoes, black trousers, black pullover and a black leather jacket. They both wore the same. He saw their guns under the jacket. But he knew they weren't going to shoot him. 'We are both', one of them said. 'But you don't get to hell. Not now, not this night', the same twin added. 'I'm dying', Mr. Monk coughed. 'You know who it was', the other twin said. 'Yes', Monk said. 'Rickover.' They both nodded. 'You are working for him. Does he pay well?' 'It is not about the money. We don't care. It is about the killing. The different types. A car bomb for your wife, a bullet for the Captain's wife…' 'It's time for a man to die', her sister added. The first twin smiled at Mr. Monk. 'I am nearly dead', he said. 'You don't want to kill me now. That is not why you came.'

'Then why did we come?', the first twin asked. 'Who of you is who?', Monk asked back. 'I'm Vanessa', the first twin said. 'You're Annika?' The second twin nodded. 'Do you like to kill?', Monk asked. They smiled. 'It is fun. When you hear the last scream, see the last glint in the eye dying. And you know that you just took away a man's life forever', Vanessa explained. 'You're mad', Monk said with a face expressing his disgust. Annika laughed. 'You have no idea', she said. 'Why did you come?', Mr. Monk asked again. 'Your cleaning tissues', Annika said. 'What?', Monk asked. 'The poison was in your cleaning tissue', Vanessa repeated and nodded over to the table where there were a lot of packages of them. 'Just in three or four packages', Vanessa said. 'Natalie will soon have first symptoms, too. She touched them when she gave them to you.' 'Why do you tell me?', Monk asked. Somehow he could swear that he had seen these red-haired girls before. But he could not match their curled red hair with black strands. Not the hair he knew, but the faces. Somehow. 'We don't want you to die that fast', Annika said. 'All the fun would be gone.' 'What fun?' 'The fun to see you suffer', Vanessa said. The twins' eyes looked crazy. 'We want to see you suffer while your friends suffer, too. We'll start tonight.' They turned around to go. 'Wait', he said. 'What about Rickover?', he asked. 'He wants us to kill you. But we don't want to kill you. By now. We want to play with you first. When the bone is dry, it can be thrown away. You searched us for over ten years. Now we're here. Here to play with you', Annika said. 'It is something personal between you and us, now', Vanessa added. 'Rickover doesn't play a role for us anymore. If he makes trouble, he will get killed. You wanted to meet us; now you wish you would have never wanted to. Good-bye, Mr. Monk. We will meet again, very soon.' They both left the room. Monk looked out of the window. It still rained.

There was something he had missed. He looked at all the scattered newspaper articles on his bed. There was something. He never moves, he thought. That was what he had overheard the day when they had visited Rickover. Why does he never move, he wondered.

When Natalie has figured out, too, that it was in the tissues and when she had started seeing sport too and she finally arrived in hospital, she recognized that she was too late. Monk was gone. Monk had escaped. He was outside in the rain and the only thing he wanted, was revenge for his wife. He did not care about the twins by now, he just wanted to kill Rickover. His target, his aim. He wanted to find out what he hid in his house, in his garden perhaps. The reason why he never moved.


	7. Mr Monk and the end which is not an end

Chapter 7

'Your garage was open. I borrowed a shovel', Mr. Monk said coughing and threw the shovel to the ground. Rickover who had just arrived stared at him. Monk had waited for him to come home. It was dark and it was raining. 'Pick it up', Monk said and pointed the gun he had taken from the officer who should have had a look after him in hospital. 'Do you wanna kill a federal judge?', Rickover asked. 'Tonight, I'm the judge', Monk said. He showed Rickover where to dig. He started digging. After less than a minute his clothes were soaked and he barely could see because of the dark night and the loud noise of the pouring rain.

Ten minutes passed. Rickover tried to talk to Monk. 'Dig', he screamed still pointing the gun to the judge. Stottlemeyer and Randy arrived, both their guns in their hands. 'Monk, calm down. You don't wanna do this', Stottlemeyer said. 'You don't have to do this', he added. Rickover looked at him and to Mr. Monk. 'Who told you to stop?', Monk screamed at him. Rickover restarted digging. 'Monk! Go back to the hospital. We know where the poison was in', Randy said. 'The wipes', Monk said. 'The twins told me. They visited me tonight. About three hours ago. They told me that they don't care about you, Rickover. Now they want to kill me. It's something personal, now, they said. Because I hunted them, I hunted you. Now I've found them and have to live with the consequences of it.' Randy and Stottlemeyer looked startled. Rickover suddenly hit something in the ground. He has dug deep enough. 'What was that?', Stottlemeyer asked, back from his surprise. 'That was the missing midwife we searched ten years ago', Monk explained. 'She never died', Monk added. 'Trudy's daughter is still alive. He just could not kill her. He told Trudy she would have died and killed the nurse who was the only one who knew that the baby was alive. He sent the twins to the birthing center little time ago because they were digitalizing the data and they would have seen that. This was the file the twins had stolen. She is alive. Am I right?' Monk screamed at Rickover now. He hesitated, then said: 'Yes, you are right, Mr. Monk. Another case solved!' 'You killed Trudy! For nothing', Monk screamed, coughed. He was looking very ill. He coughed harder and let his gun fall down. It fell to the ground, into the mud. Stottlemeyer took Monk, pulled him away, held him.

Exactly two miles ago the sniper focused her target. She was very calm. It rained heavily. She was drenched with rain, wet through. It did not care to her now. She focused him. She could barely see anything. Just a street lamp enlightened the scene in the garden. She slackened the gun and breathed silently. The moved her finger for half an inch, she pulled the trigger. She did not miss her target. She was a very good sharp shooter, trained by the best. She looked up from the rifle. It was too far away and too dark to see anything. She looked back into the gun. She saw they body on the ground. She hit him, he was not breathing anymore. Blood dripped of his wound. Direct hit into his chest. She mostly did not target the fix point between the eyes. Annika most time targeted the heart.

'No!', Stottlemeyer and Randy screamed. Rickover fell to the ground, very slow motion. They could all three hear his body dumping to the muddy grass. Monk just look at him. The dead body. He did not breathe anymore, no air for him anymore. 'The twins', he murmured. 'Thank you, twins!', he screamed out loudly and laughed.

It was ten o'clock in the morning when Valentina, Sharona and Benji arrived at the FBI shed. It did not rain anymore but it was obvious that it had heavily rained before. Although on mid-distance they received the call that Rickover was dead, Valentina was still told to bring them to the FBI shed. The twins were still out there, Stottlemeyer had explained. It would be safer for them. Sharona had cried the whole drive over and Benji, too. They both had sat on the back seat and Valentina had tried to calm them down. The night was dangerous and she had to concentrate for driving. It had rained and it had been dark. She was lost in thoughts. Thought about how it could go on. They finally arrived at the shed. They went in. Because there were only two bedrooms, Sharona and Valentina shared one while Benji got his own room.

They did a research. 'I found it', Randy triumphed. 'And that even without the help of Valentina.' 'Show me', Monk said and sat down next to him. They were at police department again. 'Her name is Molly and she lives in a adopted family. She is Trudy Monk's daughter.' 'Oh my god', Monk said. He was so happy. Stottlemeyer got out of his office. He made a sad face. 'I've found her child. Oh my god, we've found her child', Monk said happily. 'What's up, Captain?', Randy asked. 'Is her name Molly?', Stottlemeyer asked. Randy nodded.

Thirty minutes later they were standing on the bridge. They walked down to the river. They regarded the dead body. 'Oh my god, Molly', Monk muttered. He could not believe it. There she lay. A bloody smiley in her belly. He cried. He looked to the sky. He could not bear it. A pathologist stepped by. He opened Molly's blouse. There were scratches everywhere, deep cuts made by a knife. 'What can you tell us, doc?', Captain Stottlemeyer asked. 'She was tortured. By deep knife cuts. The smiley was added post mortem', the doctor answered. He took her left hand with his gloved hands. Three nails were missing. They lay beneath. 'Denailing. A common way of torture', he said. Monk did not react anymore, so deep was his shock. 'Three nails on the left side and two on the right side', the doctor added. He looked at the bare foot. No nail was missing. He examined her neck. 'Signs of strangling', he muttered more or less to himself. 'Cause of death?', Stottlemeyer said. He was surprised about himself how calm he was. 'I can't say yet. I will tell you more when I have her down in autopsy.' 'Time of death?' 'About two hours ago.' Stottlemeyer looked at his watch. One a.m. He stood up and looked around. There was a video camera. It was broken. He looked at Monk. He obviously could not take this all. Stottlemeyer held him up or he would fall down or just faint. Somehow Stottlemeyer got a bad feeling.

'Call Valentina', he told Randy. 'What?' 'Call Valentina', he repeated and let Monk sit down at the stones. Natalie cowered next to them. Monk did not care if the stones were dirty. Randy tried to phone Valentina. 'She does not answer her cell phone', he said. 'Try again', Stottlemeyer said. Randy did not want to argue. Nothing again. He shook his head. 'God damn it', Stottlemeyer cursed. He had to get there. He stood up. 'Randy, you come with me. We're going there', he said. 'They are dangerous', Monk said and looked down at the body who was just about to being put into the body bag. 'They have a kind of accent', he continued. 'What kind of accent?', Stottlemeyer asked. 'I don't know. Not Spanish or Canadian, that's for sure. American neither. European, perhaps?', he asked and went silent again. Stottlemeyer turned around to walk to his car. He froze. Theresa stood at his car. He walked toward her. 'Valentina is not dead', she said. 'Not yet.' She looked at the two pathologists carrying the body bag. 'And you know that because…?', Stottlemeyer asked. 'I know them. Helped', she said. There were no emotion in her eyes. 'You helped them get the toxin. Or helped them to kill?', he asked. 'I am a contract killer', she answered. 'I help evil people. It's my job.' 'But it is not your job to tell us that Valentina is still alive.' 'I wanted you to know. When you go there you must know that you should not blame her. You could have sent her down there with loads of police officers and the same would have happened. Just with more killings. I haven't been there', she said.

'Then how do you know that they haven't lied to you?', Stottlemeyer asked. Theresa thought. 'I can assess someone's character. That was what I was taught.' 'How do you assess them?' 'I would not underestimate them and not risk any more lives', she said. She looked at the river and then at Stottlemeyer. 'Do you want to arrest me now?', she asked and held her arms toward him. He thought for a while. 'Go', he then said. She had given him valuable information. 'Captain Stottlemeyer?', she said when she turned around to go and turned back. 'Yes?', he asked. 'Don't trust anybody in this world', she said and went back to her car. Stottlemeyer and Randy stepped into the Captain's car.

The drive took them a few hours and when they arrived it was getting darker again. They walked to the shed, their guns in their hands. Randy looked through a window inside. 'Oh my god!', he screamed and stepped back. The Captain opened the door. Benji and his mom lay on the floor, their arms spread. Blood was around them. A smiley on the belly. It was the sign of the twins. Benji was shot in his chest. Sharona was stabbed with a kitchen knife. 'I will make them pay', Stottlemeyer muttered. He repeated slowly. 'I will make you pay for that!', he screamed out as loudly as he could. Randy was still shocked. He just stared down to the body. His police work has turned from detective work into a slaughter. Too many people were dying. There were two sixteen years old with the destiny to kill. They did not regret anything. They did not respect friendship or love. They could not have any feelings. They could not have done this all. The two police man heard a noise. They looked around. Valentina stood in the door. No harm was done to her but her light blue pullover was sprinkled with red blood. Stottlemeyer ran toward her and hugged her. She did not smile. She did not seem wrong at all. 'Why did they let you alive?', Stottlemeyer asked and stopped hugging. 'I don't know', she said and walked to the two corpses. 'Oh god', she murmured looking at them. 'You did not see it?' 'It was so fast, everything', she said. 'It's my fault', she said. 'No', the Captain directly said. 'We should have sent more men down here. We knew they were going to come. Anyway, we had a short visit from Theresa. She told us not to blame you.' It rather sounded like a question. 'Why…? I don't have any idea why she would say that', Valentina said looking up again. She sighed. 'When do they stop? When there is no one else to kill left?', she asked into nowhere. 'Perhaps they will kill each of us now and at last Monk', Randy suggested. 'Why didn't they kill me?', she asked. 'That is a good question we all want to know. What exactly happened?'

Valentina looked around. 'I heard a noise when we were packing out our things. I went to the kitchen and saw Benji shot. It was the gunshot I was woken up by. I saw her. The other one came from behind and disarmed me. The she took a knife and went to get Sharona. I don't know more, the other twin knocked me out somehow. I woke up again in the woods. It took me the rest of the time to get back here.' She looked very concerned. 'However, we have to call local police', Stottlemeyer said. 'We just have to make them clear that this is our case.' 'Meanwhile I'll get down to the little village and get some coffee. It has been a tough night and day', Randy said. 'Life is tough', Valentina murmured and examined the two dead bodies.


	8. Consequences

Chapter 8

They came back late in the afternoon and directly went to Police department. Stottlemeyer, Randy and Valentina went into the office. The captain went away and ten minutes later came back with two boards with paper and a pen. On one of them he wrote 'Theresa' and on the other 'twins'. He gave Valentina a pen. Without a word she started writing down everything they had already found out about Theresa Riddle. It was not that much. Nothing relevant. Stottlemeyer and Randy together wrote everything down they knew about the evil twins. And their victims: Trudy Monk, Ethan Rickover, Collins, Sharona, Benji, Molly. Who was next?

They finished writing and stepped back. They looked at the boards. Most of it was still blank. Stottlemeyer's cell phone rang. He answered. Valentina and Randy only heard parts. 'Hey, honey…yeah, I'll be home soon…no, I'll come…okay…see you…love you.' He put his cell phone back into his pocket. 'My wife', he explained. 'Obviously', Randy said. 'She is coming here. When she got home tonight she saw a piece of paper on the living room table, 'you're next' was written on. She is scared to hell about me. She'll come here.' 'Are you sure this message was for you and not for her?', Valentina asked. 'I'll go and get her', Stottlemeyer said and wanted to leave office grabbing his car key. 'No', Valentina said and pushed him back. 'Perhaps this is exactly what they want from you. We have to wait in here. They won't just get in here and shoot all of us.' That sounded reasonable. He threw the car key back on his desk and sighed.

The next twenty minutes were very long. They waited. It rained outside, poured. The rain was hitting against the window, making a loud noise. Stottlemeyer sat on his couch and poured in the third glass of Whiskey. Randy just stared outside and watched the rain fall. Valentina just won Solitaire again, seventy-five seconds. They heard a noise. Stottlemeyer jumped up. His wife Trudy ran in and hugged him very deeply. 'Leland', she said, trying to breathe. 'What happened?', he asked. 'I don't know', she said. 'I went out of the house and someone with a mask knocked me down. I think it was a woman. She gave me a kind of injection and then ran away.' 'The invisible sword', Valentina said. 'What?', Trudy asked, still in panic. 'We have to get you out of here', Stottlemeyer said. He took her and they ran to the elevator. Randy and Valentina looked at each other and followed them. 'Take the stairs', Valentina screamed. 'Wait', Randy said, they were all on the stairs now. 'They will need a satellite.' 'They could have installed one on the roof', Stottlemeyer said. 'What the hell-?', Trudy asked. 'Can someone please explain me what is-', that were the last words of the second Trudy the twins have killed. Stottlemeyer saw his wife falling down, in slow motion. He cried, cursed the twins, he kneed over her, took her pulse. All hope was gone. Randy kneed over her, too, looked into the shocked face of his boss. Valentina stood there, watching the body. 'I'm…going to…destroy the satellites', she murmured and slowly went upstairs. 'Why me?', she heard Stottlemeyer screaming when she walked away. 'Why not anybody else? What have I done to them?', he asked into nowhere. Nothing, Valentina thought. They are only evil, Randy thought. No regrets.

Natalie's boyfriend was a marine, he worked for Navy and has been on several missions already. He was tough, trained very well. He loved Natalie. He woke up from a noise. He looked around. He saw Natalie in bed next to him. They were at her house. Julie was at a friend's house. He definitely has heard something. He stood up and walked to the hallway. He did not want to switch on light. Bad luck for him. He just felt an intensive pain in his neck. Someone just knocked him out. Annika walked over him and felt his pulse. Still alive. Good. She looked up. Her sister came in. 'Where have you been?', she asked. 'Sorry, took a little more time than I thought.' 'Is she dead?', Annika asked. Vanessa nodded. 'Stottlemeyer now is down in autopsy crying. I think he'll still be there in the morning', she smiled shortly and together they brought him out of the house. Annika's boyfriend helped them to put the body into the car. Vanessa's boyfriend fastened a seat belt around him. The female twins put off their masks and each kissed their boyfriends, male identical twins. 'Are you sure you wanna do that?', Vanessa's boyfriend asked. 'No', Vanessa said. 'But do we have a choice?'

Natalie's boyfriend, his name was Joe, woke up. He looked around. He was tied on a table. He did not wear anything but his underpants. There was only spare light and so it was very dark. But he could see enough. The room was painted black. There was another table with several instruments, he saw diverse knifes and things he could not name. He was scared. He heard a noise. Two women came in, rather children then women. They both were black jeans and black pullover. They had read hairs with black strands, obviously colored hair. 'Are you the twins?', he asked. They nodded.

Vanessa stepped forward. She went to the table and picked up a dissecting tool. 'What do you want from me?', he asked, panicking. 'You have access to valuable information of the US Navy', Vanessa said. He saw the other twin sitting down at a desk three meters ago, starting a laptop. 'Only restricted…accesses, he said looking at the knife. Vanessa smiled. 'Already this will be valuable enough for some people to pay', she said. 'I won't reveal any secrets of US Navy', he said. 'I know', she said. 'But I think you'll think twice in a few minutes.' She came closer to him and sat down over him on the table. She held the dissecting tool close to his face. 'My sister just needs your username and your password. Please.' She waited a moment. 'No?', she asked and cut slightly with the scalpel into his soft flesh. It bled, not much but he saw the blood flowing out of the wound. He did not scream, yet but he gritted his teeth. Vanessa carried on cutting into the body. She made a big smiley out of it on his chest and his belly. She slightly cut in the smiley's mouth, then deeply stabbed the knife in where the eyes were. He shortly screamed, twice, two eyes. Vanessa looked at him. 'I haven't even started', she said.

Half an hour later Natalie's boyfriend lay on the ground, in a puddle of blood. He was heavily bleeding. He had several cuts, some deep, and some light. Bruises on his body, his neck showed hints of strangulation. He was still alive. He was weeping. It was so much pain. When he had told them everything they wanted to know, Vanessa had not stopped. She was kneeing over him, watching him. Blood dropped from the kind of whip. It had a few endings, with stones on it. They had cut deep in his body. She just looked at him. He did not see any emotion or any pity in her eyes. She went to the table and took the medical scalpel again. There was dry blood on it. His blood. 'I did everything you wanted', he screamed. 'Why? What else do you want from me?'

The twins have not even needed him. They were able to hack into his user account anyway. They wanted to see Natalie suffer. And when Natalie suffered, Monk did so too. Even if he did not show it that much. 'You are right. We have everything we want. But sometimes the world is not enough', Vanessa said and kneed over him again, turning the dissecting tool in her hands. 'Hold still, now. It is going to hurt', she said. She looked over to her sister. She looked concerned. They had to do this. Their boss wanted it. They did not understand their boss but they knew that if they were not going to do what he wanted, something would happen. They had a lot of freedom in their job, how they did it and when. And in which order. But he had told them to torture Natalie's boyfriend. To make Monk suffer. Valentina looked back at him and stabbed the knife into his eye. He screamed.

It was evening when they had found him. It was in forest and a wanderer had found him. When they saw the body, Stottlemeyer decided not to call Natalie so that she called Monk. He sent Valentina to catch Monk. He arrived and he could barely look at the body. Not only because he was completely naked now and a specific part of his body was next to the rest of his body, but he could not imagine Natalie and her feelings. She had loved him. Trudy had just died. She hasn't felt anything. This man was tortured, brutally, violently. Monk suffered, as did Stottlemeyer, as did Randy. They swore to find the twins and to kill them. They wanted to act as soon as possible. They wanted to end this before anything bigger and worse could happen. Perhaps the twins were going to give them a chance. A chance to satisfaction. But they were too evil to be trusted.


	9. Fools

Chapter 9

Time passed on and the twins did not go active again. The team did not hear anything and they wondered if they had already gone and what happened to the plan to let Monk suffer to finally kill him. It was a dark night again. All nights were dark but somehow it felt even darker now. Randy, Stottlemeyer and Valentina still worked. The last weeks they always were the last ones to leave. Most time Valentina was the last one. She worked hard, with the best results. She was very good in her job. It was not raining tonight, usually it rained when something happened as shown in most TV series. When something was about to happen, it rains, Valentina thought. Such an unfortunate we have no rain now.

Monk and Natalie were in Police department, too. Monk looked out of the window and tried to solve their latest case. Uninteresting. Natalie stared into nothing, watched Valentina writing a report. She has become very silent since her boyfriend's death. Valentina was the closest person to her, she had solaced her best. Better than Julie, better than Monk. Somehow Natalie thought, she must be a person who had suffered a lot in her past, too. Valentina was a silent person and she did not reveal a lot about herself, especially not about her past. Natalie thought that something must have changed her in the past, made her silent and thoughtful. She was a very calm person, intelligent and thinking twice. But somehow there was anything secretive in her. However, she was very nice and got along very well with her colleagues and her boss. 'I'm going to get coffee', she finally said. Everyone could need some. She went off, downstairs.

The doctor came in. He had just finished autopsy. He brought in the report of the latest case. Now it was clear who the murderer was. But it was irrelevant. They all looked on the report. Then they heard a shot. The doctor's body fell down to the floor and they saw two shadows moving toward the stairway. They all started to run. Out of the floor, out of the building. The twins jumped into their car and the four stepped into Stottlemeyer's car. The chase began and the captain did not lose their car. They chased them through the whole city and somehow it was easy to follow them. They now were on corner St. Montgomery Street and Green Street and they lost them for a short moment when they drove around the corner. They came around the corner and saw the black car just twenty meters in front of them. Left of their car was a parking garage with a broken barrier, on the right side there was a night club. It was not the best district they were in. They nearly had them.

They heard it. Stottlemeyer pushed the brakes. The car threw around and finally stopped. They have had enough distance not to have been affected by the car bomb that blew in the car. Stottlemeyer got out of his car and ran to the burning one. The gas tank exploded and he let himself fall to the ground, protected his head with his arms. Natalie, Randy and Monk were standing there, watching the scene. The car burned down and the fire fighters could not help. That now was part of Police. They gathered at the crime scene and started investigating. There was nothing to investigate. It was a car bomb, exactly the one that was used for Trudy Monk's car ten years ago. They wondered who did this. Whoever it was, they had to thank him.

Stottlemeyer would have never guessed that. He just looked at her, she was not smiling this time. He did not hate Theresa. He even imagined him hugging her. 'Why?', he asked. 'We had a little argument', Theresa said. Stottlemeyer could not tell if she was lying or not. However, he did not care, now. 'And so you blew them up? What kind of bomb did you use?' He wanted to proof her. She smiled. 'Exactly the same type of explosive device they had used to kill Mr. Monk's wife ten years ago', she said. 'Well, I can't say more than to thank you.' She did not smile anymore.

Stottlemeyer had left her go this night. It was raining. Too late, Theresa thought and stepped into the car. Her sister started to drive home. 'They believed you?', she asked. 'Of course', Theresa said and smiled. 'They are so stupid. I would have expected more from Mr. Monk', her sister said. 'How long are we supposed to be believed dead?', Theresa asked. 'He first wants to have a look how things are going to develop', she answered. Theresa nodded. 'So no torturing in the next few weeks?', her sister said. 'I perhaps will have the chance to, Vanessa', Theresa smiled at her sister. 'Oh, you and your boss Rend Burnie, Annika. He hasn't found out about your life as Annika?', she asked. 'No', Theresa said. 'Not yet. That could still mean that he would recognize us. I don't want to take this risk. So what now?' 'What about spending night with any foreign girl in any foreign location?', Vanessa asked and parked on the parking lot next to a night strip club.

The twins were still alive.


	10. No mercy

Chapter 10

Time passed on. (This sentence can be read far too often)

Rickover was dead.

Monk knew that he was the murderer of his wife.

Monk had found inner peace with the thought that all the people who had let him suffer, were dead.

He solved more cases. Natalie got over her boyfriend.

Life passed on for them and they did not think about the twins anymore.

* * *

><p>However, Valentina carried on playing her role as innocent citizen helping Monk.<p>

Theresa played the evil girl, the contract killer. Vanessa and Annika were hiding, waiting until their time of return came.

_It wouldn't last long and that time there will be no mercy._

**Well, this chapter was short and far not the end of Monk. The twins are still alive waiting for their chance to return. However, this was the last chapter. if you want to know how the story goes on, I will write on a new beginning of the twins' chase.**

**Please review if (or if not and why) you liked the story! :)**


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